Representatives of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and the Mennonite World Conference held the first of several theological conversations June 28 to July 1, 2011 at the world headquarters of the 17 million-member Seventh-day Adventist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland.

For four days representatives of both world communions exchanged ideas and perspectives centering on the theme of “Living the Christian Life in Today’s World.” After each group presented an overview of the history of their communion, papers were also presented by each group on the topics of peace, non-violence and military service; discipleship and non-conformity; health, healing/salvation and ecology; and the nature and mission of the church.

… continued.
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The following article appeared in the July 11-12, 2011 issue of L’Osservatore Romano, published by the Holy See. L’impegno dei cristiani in Canada  Dal dialogo alla missione comunedi Riccardo Burigana«C’è un sostanziale accordo tra le Chiese cristiane su ciò che noi crediamo, e noi abbiamo una percezione più forte del fatto che siamo veramente fratelli
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As Poland prepares to host the European Football Championship in 2012, Christians in the country have put the meaning of “victory” and “defeat” at the centre of their reflections for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that will be celebrated earlier in the year. Preparatory resources based on these reflections are already available in five languages on the website of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
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On Pentecost Sunday, Gregory Kerr-Wilson, Anglican bishop of the Diocese of Qu’Appelle, and Daniel Bohan, Roman Catholic archbishop of the Archdiocese of Regina, jointly celebrated a service in Regina.
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Leaders of the Church of England and the Methodist Church have been urged to work more closely in the future in order to strengthen Christian unity.

A statement issued by the Church of England’s communications office on June 16 said the Joint Implementation Commission (JIC) set up under the Anglican-Methodist Covenant of 2003 to enhance unity is recommending the two churches share their mission and ministry more widely.

A new JIC report, “Moving Forward in Covenant,” is due to be considered by the Methodist Conference and the Church of England’s General Synod, both taking place this summer. The JIC’s role is “to monitor and promote the implementation of the Covenant.”
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At its meeting in Geneva, 9-14 June, The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council approved plans for a three-way talks that will include Lutherans, Roman Catholics and Mennonites.
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Religious leaders are hailing Queen Elizabeth II’s historic state visit to Ireland next week as a sign of reconciliation following centuries of sectarian hatred and violence.
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Reconciliation — between the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches and between Inuit and Dene students who attended residential schools in the North — will be the major focus of the 2nd Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) event June 28 to July 1.
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A new pastoral letter marks the 10th anniversary of full communion between Anglicans and Lutherans in both Canada and the United States. In 2001, the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) signed the Waterloo Declaration. In that same year The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America signed a similar agreement, Called to Common Mission.

The new pastoral letter reflects on these full communion relationships and is signed by Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the ACC; Bishop Susan Johnson, National Bishop of the ELCIC; Archbishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church; and Bishop Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

On May 1 simultaneous celebrations of full communion will be held at 3:00 pm EST at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Fort Erie, Ont. and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Buffalo, N.Y. Bishop Johnson will preside at St. Paul’s Anglican and Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori will preach. Presiding Bishop Hanson will preside and Archbishop Hiltz will preach at Holy Trinity Lutheran.

All Anglicans and Lutherans in Canada and the U.S. are encouraged to mark this celebration in their own communities.

Full text follows.
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The next generation of Canadian rabbis will be able to point to the Catholic roots of their training – or at least of their school. The Canadian Yeshiva and Rabbinical School will begin offering classes this fall in a classroom at the University of St. Michael’s College Faculty of Theology, part of the Toronto School of Theology (TST).

Canada’s future imams will have a similar story. A master’s program in Muslim studies is taking shape at the United Church of Canada’s seminary, Emmanuel College [also at TST].
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From April 1 to 3, the executive councils of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) will hold their first joint meeting in Mississauga, Ont. This meeting of the ACC’s Council of General Synod and the ELCIC’s National Church Council marks an important step in deepening the full communion relationship between the two churches.
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The accepted axiom is, as the climate changes so the world, too, will change in dramatic and sometimes undesirable ways. What does this often rapid change mean to Christians whose faith is intertwined with the glory and beauty of God’s creation, but challenged when that creation is corrupted and irreversibly altered?
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Pope Benedict XVI has intervened personally to demand more time for ecumenical talks with the Protestant Churches when he visits Germany in September. In a highly unusual move he has written directly to the leader of the Protestant Churches, Chairman Nikolaus Schneider, expressing dissatisfaction with the brevity of the session allotted for their meeting. Barely
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The Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has elected the Most Rev. Sviatoslav Shevchuk as Major Archbishop
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Diptychs, an arcane liturgical term that describes the order in which Orthodox churches commemorate each other at their services, is one of the tangled issues blocking plans for what could be the first great church council in 1,200 years.

Some Orthodox leaders say the churches need to get together to discuss common issues and speak with one voice on such important topics as bioethics, sexuality and the environment, but differences over arcane church issues such as diptychs and autocephaly (the independent status of Orthodox churches) run deep.
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Together as people of faith, informed by our respective traditions, and compelled by our sincerely held beliefs to care for those in need within our communities and across this nation, we recognize this time to be a unique moment and opportunity in Canada for cooperative action to eradicate persistent poverty in our wealthy and wonderful land. It is a time when Canadians of all faiths, from all walks of life, from all parts of this great country are awakening to the unacceptable levels of poverty, inequity and homelessness, and acknowledging that this injustice must change.

But we cannot do this in isolation. Committed to doing all we can, we call upon our government to partner with us in ending poverty.

We acknowledge with gratitude the many positive government initiatives that continue to benefit the poor. In particular, it is gratifying to acknowledge that a majority of Canadians now live in provinces and territories that have developed and are implementing poverty reduction plans. But it is time for comprehensive, coordinated and collaborative action, with national leadership working in partnership with other jurisdictions.
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A joint declaration of the twenty-first International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee Meeting was published at midday today. The meeting was held in Paris, France from 27 February to 2 March.
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The Christian Reformed Church in North America and the Presbyterian Church in Canada are celebrating an “Affirmation of Relationship” approved and endorsed by the CRC Synod of 2010 and the General Assembly of the PCC.

Under this affirmation, the PCC becomes one of only a few “Churches in Dialogue” with the CRCNA. With the agreement, the denominations pledge to work even more closely together in the future than they have in the past. “The Christian Reformed Church and the Presbyterian Church in Canada have been neighbors and friends for many years,” says Rev. Bruce Adema, director of the CRC in Canada.

“The ‘Affirmation of the Relationship’ document outlines how our churches can demonstrate Christian affection and work together to reveal the Kingdom of God. We want to celebrate our unity as brothers and sisters in Christ.”

For several years the Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee of the CRCNA has had a subcommittee that met with representatives of the PCC. “The Affirmation of the Relationship is the fruit of that,” said Adema.
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“God of life, lead us to justice and peace” will provide the theme for the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The Assembly is to be convened in October 2013 at Busan, South Korea.

The theme was determined by the WCC Central Committee on Tuesday 22 February following periods of discussion spread over several days. A “theme” is not merely a slogan or motto for a WCC assembly but provides a focus for theological reflection, worship and meditation surrounding the assembly, as well as for planning of programmatic activities before, during and after the event.
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Last month, the national Canadian ARC Bishops’ Dialogue celebrated 40 years of bringing Anglican and Roman Catholics closer together. “The Canadian Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue is one of the longest running in the world,” says Bishop Michael Ingham of the Anglican diocese of New Westminster in Vancouver.

Unity headed the agenda as five Roman Catholic and four Anglican bishops (one was absent due to illness) met over three days in Pickering, Ont., to discuss–among other things–Growing Together in Unity and Mission, a document produced by the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission.

Growing Together encourages practical co-operation at local levels between Anglican and Roman Catholic churches and visible signs of religious unity. “For example, it recommends that the two churches consider offering baptismal preparation together, using the same baptismal certificates or making public professions of faith together at Pentecost or on other significant occasions,” says Bishop Ingham.

It also encourages other joint ventures such as non-Eucharistic worship, pilgrimages and social justice initiatives. Religious collaborations are not common now, but Bishop Ingham is optimistic that they may become so. “We discussed how to develop this co-operation in Canada. The bishops will be taking the recommendations back to the House of Bishops. If the bishops are supportive, then they have to go out to the dioceses and encourage the clergy there.”
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The co-Chairmen and co-secretaries of the new phase of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III) have drawn up a plan for the first meeting of the Commission. This will be hosted by the Monastery of Bose, northern Italy, from 17 to 27 May 2011. The new phase of ARCIC’s work was mandated by Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, at their meeting in Rome in November 2009.
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Nineteen Canadian Christian evangelical pastors are spending nine days on a study tour of Israel that is intended to provide them with information and perspectives that could be used to defend Israeli government policies. The tour, a project of the Modern Israel Studies Department at Canada Christian College in Toronto in conjunction with the B’nai Brith World Center in Jerusalem, was funded by private donors.
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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina and the Anglican Diocese of Qu’Appelle have entered into a covenant committing themselves to prayer together and for each other, to work together for justice, peace, and aboriginal reconciliation and healing, and to consult regularly where developments affect the other. Archbishop Daniel Bohan and Bishop Gregory Kerr-Wilson signed the covenant on behalf of their churches in a joint worship service on Sunday, January 23rd at St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in Regina.
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According to Pastor Harry Strauss, the Saskatoon Evangelical Ministers Fellowship (SEMF) intention is to build up fellowship among its members and within the wider community.

Strauss is an associate pastor at Forest Grove Community Church and chair of SEMF which is an association and fellowship of pastors and leaders from about 40 evangelical churches in the city. It also includes representatives from a dozen or so para-church organizations like Youth for Christ, Power to Change, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and Christian Counselling Services.

SEMF has been operating for many years as an organization that sees its membership constantly changing.

“The heart of our mission is to foster a spirit of unity among Christian ministers and ministries in the city,” Strauss says.

The group meets monthly, and in recent years has become involved in a number of interesting initiatives.
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Ecumenical News International, an award-winning agency reporting on religion and based at the World Council of Churches (WCC), has been temporarily closed and had its two top editors removed, one of them said on Monday.

The decision, taken at a meeting of its executive committee last week, comes after the Geneva-based WCC cut the agency’s funding and its former head criticised its coverage.

The suspension and leadership changes led to the resignation of the ENI president and its treasurer, both senior figures in Scandinavian Protestant churches, a report by the agency said.
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Last year, Green Church was a humble project run by a committee linking inspiration and environmental action together. Since September 2010, Green Church is now a national program offered by the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism in both English and French. We redesigned the logo with a green maple leaf and a cross to reflect the mission of the program
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A gathering to improve relations between the many Protestant denominations in the Netherlands recently took place on the site of an earlier historic synod, though any idea of complete church unity taking place was said to smack of “an unrealistic utopia.” About 700 Christians from 50 Prot­estant churches attended what was billed as a “national synod” December 10-11 in the main church in the town of Dor­drecht.
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The president of the Lutheran World Federation, Bishop Munib Younan has said before meeting Pope Benedict XVI that their churches should issue a common statement on Holy Communion to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation that Martin Luther began in 1517.

“Our [the Lutheran federation’s] intention is to arrive at 2017 with a common Roman Catholic-Lutheran declaration on eucharistic hospitality,” Younan told the Italian Protestant news agency NEV the day before his audience with the Pope Dec. 16.
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After several years of informal talks, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Seventh-day Adventist Church held their first formal dialogue in late-October in Chicago.
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The head of the World Council of Churches in his first official meeting with Pope Benedict XVI has said he wants to strengthen cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church, especially in the Middle East.
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Church leaders support Good Food Junction; Grocery store heart of Station 20 West Advent sees many churches encouraging members to give a special gift to charity. This year, local church leaders suggest these gifts be directed to the Good Food Junction project at Station 20 West. Earlier this week, local leaders from a variety of
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More help is being offered to churches that want to do something about climate change.

The Montreal-based Canadian Centre for Ecumenism has launched the Green Church program to advise churches on ways to reduce their carbon footprint and lower heating bills. Joined with Toronto-based Greening Sacred Spaces, Green Church will offer certification to churches that achieve a high level of environmental awareness and act on it starting in April 2011.
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The leaders of many Saskatoon churches gathered on Wednesday, November 24th to sign a letter of support for Station 20 West’s Good Food Junction grocery store. The churches have agreed to work together as an ecumenical advent project, to raise much-needed funds for the equipment required by the store.

At today’s public event, the Rev. Amanda Currie (Presbyterian Church in Canada) and Bishop Donald Bolen (Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon) offered their reflections on this project. Speaking about the dream of having a full-service grocery store in the core neighbourhoods, Currie said: “What may come as a surprise to many people across Saskatoon is that many of the families and individuals who live in the core neighbourhoods are not dreaming that they’ll get to move to the East side. Their dream is the transformation of their own neighbourhoods. And that is a dream that can become a reality.”

“We do have differences which separate us as Christian communities, but nevertheless we chose to stand together today,” said Bolen, the Roman Catholic bishop of Saskatoon. “We hope this is an invitation to all of Saskatoon to rise above differences, political differences, differences of neighbourhoods or perspective, to join in support of people of Pleasant Hill.”

“The only politics that really belongs here is the politics of providing food to people who need food, to providing food security for this neighbourhood,” said Bolen.
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An address given by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, at a conference to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, on November 17, 2010. The theme of the conference was “Towards a new stage of ecumenical dialogue.”
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Remembering, Seeing, Hoping: An Ecumenical Advent Retreat with Bishop Donald Bolen
Queen’s House of Retreat and Renewal, 601 Taylor Street, Saskatoon
Friday November 26, 2010 to Sunday November 28, 2010
To register call 306-242-1916, or register online at www.queenshouse.org
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On Wednesday 17 November, at the “Sala San Pio X”, at Via della Conciliazione 5, Rome, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity will hold a public commemoration to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, says a communiqué released today.
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“Our theology is not the same,” said Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan, “but we are all in the same boat.” The prince was addressing an assembly of Christians and Muslims gathered in Geneva, Switzerland to mark the beginning on Monday of a four-day international consultation on Muslim-Christian dialogue.
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Special needs met in a special place; Former Presbyterian church becomes resource for the mentally challenged Several decades ago, five lots of city land on McKercher Drive were donated to the Presbyterian Church in Canada by the McKercher family, long-time members of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. A plan was eventually put together to develop a
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Members of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the United States approved by unanimous consent on October 17 the dialogue’s final report on “The Hope of Eternal Life.” The 65-page report represents the fruit of the dialogue’s four-and-a-half-year study. It explores issues related to the Christian’s life beyond death, such as the communion of saints, resurrection of the dead, and final judgment, as well as historically divisive issues such as purgatory, indulgences, and prayers for the dead.
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The head of the World Council of Churches has reached out to a global gathering of Evangelicals saying Christians of different traditions need to learn from each other to participate together in God’s mission.

“We are called to be one, to be reconciled, so that the world may believe that God reconciles the world to himself in Christ,” the WCC general secretary, the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, said in a 17 October address on the opening day of the 3rd Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization.
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The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization opens in Cape Town this weekend, Sunday 17 October 2010. It draws together 4,000 invited participants from 197 nations, and extends through GlobaLink sites to 90 countries. The Congress theme is ‘God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself’ (2 Corinthians 5:19) and how to bear witness to Jesus Christ and all his teaching in every region of the world and every sphere of society.
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Tuesday 19 October 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of the Faith and Order movement. “Faith and Order” seeks Christian unity through theological dialogue among representatives of various churches.

The beginnings of Faith and Order are closely linked to the World Missionary Conference of June 1910 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The focus of the Edinburgh Conference was cooperation in global Christian mission. Questions around church-dividing issues and controversial points of doctrine were intentionally avoided during public discussions in Edinburgh, yet they were in the minds of many who attended.

One participant in the conference was Charles Brent, a Canadian by birth, a missionary bishop then serving in the Philippines on behalf of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America. The idea of a Faith and Order conference began with Bishop Brent, who made the link between the Edinburgh Conference with its call for Christian unity and the need to resolve issues of faith and order in the divided churches.
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Another Canadian Anglican has been appointed to an international ecumenical post. Ecumenism in Canada congratulates Natasha Klukach on her new role at the WCC.

Natasha Klukach, General Synod’s coordinator for ecumenical relations, has been appointed to an international role that will make the most of her strong theological and relationship-building skills.

The Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has approved her appointment as Programme Executive: Church and Ecumenical Relations / North American Regional Relations at the WCC office in Geneva, Switzerland. Ms. Klukach is ready to take up her appointment in January 2011.
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Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue Lays Out a Vision of Unity in Unprecedented Document

Representatives of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches have issued two new documents outlining immediate steps they can take to overcome their thousand-year separation.
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Catholic-Oriental Orthodox Dialogue Discusses Proselytism, Other Pastoral Issues Facing Their Churches

[Washington – USCCB] The United States Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic Consultation held its 2010 meeting at the Passionist Spiritual Center in Bronx, New York, on September 20 and 21. The meeting, co-chaired by Catholic Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, New York, and the Right Reverend Chor-Episcopos John Meno of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch, focused primarily on pastoral issues facing both churches.
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You have spoken, Your Grace, of the historic meeting that took place, almost thirty years ago, between two of our predecessors – Pope John Paul the Second and Archbishop Robert Runcie – in Canterbury Cathedral. There, in the very place where Saint Thomas of Canterbury bore witness to Christ by the shedding of his blood, they prayed together for the gift of unity among the followers of Christ. We continue today to pray for that gift, knowing that the unity Christ willed for his disciples will only come about in answer to prayer, through the action of the Holy Spirit, who ceaselessly renews the Church and guides her into the fullness of truth.
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Pope & Archbishop of Canterbury call for common Christian witness

Pope Benedict XVI and Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury knelt together before the tomb of an 11th-century Christian king after affirming the need for Catholics and Anglicans to give a united witness to society. St. Edward the Confessor, who is buried in the Anglicans’ Westminster Abbey, reigned five centuries before English Christians became divided.

The pope and the primate of the Church of England paid homage together to the Christian king Sept. 17 at the end of an afternoon that included public speeches, a 30-minute private meeting and a joint ecumenical prayer service in Westminster Abbey. Archbishop Williams welcomed Pope Benedict as the first pope ever to visit Westminster Abbey, which was home to a community of Catholic Benedictine monks until 1540 when King Henry VIII dissolved the monastic community.
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U.S. Anglican-Roman Catholic Theological Commission plans statement on Approaches to Moral Issues

The Anglican-Roman Catholic Theological Consultation in the United States held its sixty-eighth meeting in Alexandria, Louisiana, on September 9 and 10. This session was largely devoted to the examination of a draft outline of a potential agreed statement on the topic of the current round of dialogue, “Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment: Common Ground and Divergences.” This topic explores the fact that while the two churches share the same convictions on a wide range of ethical questions, there are serious differences regarding certain issues in personal morality, especially those pertaining to human sexuality. In earlier meetings of the Commission, members discussed Catholic and Anglican positions on contraception, debt relief, immigration, same-sex unions and health care.
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Benedict XVI: Dialogue and Collaboration among Different Religions

At midday today in St. Mary’s University College at Twickenham, the Holy Father met with leaders from the main Christian confessions and from other religions present in the United Kingdom: Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.
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An international grouping of churches and Christian organizations says that if one sixth of the world’s population is hungry when there is sufficient food to feed the world, then action to address the problem’s root causes is needed.

The Geneva-based Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, which campaigns for food justice, said in a statement on September 14 that new figures on world hunger highlight that the food crisis is still acute for one-sixth of the world’s population.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the World Food Programme had on the same day announced that 925 million people are estimated to be suffering from chronic hunger in 2010, down from the 1.023 billion estimated in 2009.
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